Sunday, July 4, 2010

So, you know how I'm always saving you time and money by designing these video recipes with a minimum number of steps?

This time we're going the other way. I'm taking a perfectly good roasted potato recipe and adding another procedure.

The secret to these deliciously crusty potatoes is the pre-oven boiling in a salted and seasoned liquid. The potatoes not only absorb flavor and salt, but more importantly the surface of the potato cooks, which is what forms the great crunchy texture in the oven.

This is sort of the same idea behind the twice-fried French fries we featured in a video last year. By the way, it's very important to let the potatoes really dry well before coating with the oil. This will ensure a great crusty skin.

You can use this same technique, and flavor the cooking liquid any number of ways. If you like this recipe, you'll have lots of experimenting to do.

I hope you all have a fun Fourth of July planned! I'm almost done with the cured lemon quail recipe, so stay tuned for that soon. Have a safe and fabulous rest of the weekend, and as always, enjoy!

45 comments:

Why do you cook your potatoes in a lot of water with open lid? They are best cooked in just a little bottom of water, with lid on. This increases flavor, preserves more nutritious value and also takes slightly less time due to less water getting to boiling point faster.

I have never added herbs while cooking potatoes, but it seems an excellent idea and would also work better with the technique above I think (one teabag in a tea cup makes stronger tea than one teabag in a large pot).

Nonetheless, your recipe is probably excellent, and would be perfect for a festive meal. New potatoes are now available here!

Ive done a cheat variation of this method where I cut the potatoes into large fork sized chunks, par boil them in salted water, drain them and toss them with some olive oil a minced garlic clove or two and few chopped rosemary leaves before popping them in a hot oven to brown. Sometimes they smell so good at that point, I feel like forgoing the oven and just give em a squeeze of lemon juice.

Ive done a cheat variation of this method where I cut the potatoes into large fork sized chunks, par boil them in salted water, drain them and toss them with some olive oil a minced garlic clove or two and few chopped rosemary leaves before popping them in a hot oven to brown. Sometimes they smell so good at that point, I feel like forgoing the oven and just give em a squeeze of lemon juice.

hey chef john, wanted to let you know i LOVE your videos! yesterday one of my favourite channels "retired" and stopped making videos so i was extremely sad D:so NEVER stop making videos or i will seriously cry :'(you have taught me so many recipes and techniques! U ROCK! :D

Hi Chef John, I am a big fan of your videos from Italy:o)I wanted to say that I always pre-cook the potatoes before I roast them. I use a similar technique but I only boil them in salted water with a couple of spoons of vinegar, I'll definitely try this one, although I use exactly all the other ingredients (garlic, cayenne and rosemary) in the baking pan.

You are making my mouth water!!! Going to make these along with the Angel Hair Pasta with Broccoli and Garlic Sauce...I know I am doing double starches...but they both look so delicious, oh actually I am tripling the starch with some no knead french bread...maybe I will toss in a green salad to make me feel better! Thanks for your site, I am definately a visual learner so I have been going nuts over your recipes!

I love these potatoes!!!! I've made them a lot and recently had some left over. I gotta tell you they are so-o-o-o-o-o delicious for breakfast, warmed in a frying pan and with an easy over egg--maybe some bacon.Thank you for this method!!!Jackie

How simple and how delicious! I never thought that boiling the potatoes beforehand would make them oh so creamy in the middle! The centers melt in your mouth. Thanks for the simple way to make roasted potatoes even better.

As someone who prepares Italian roasted red potatoes with rosemary and garlic often, I can't understate how GREAT this method is. On numerous occasions I have heard professionals and amateur cooks (myself included) complain that this simply recipe "goes wrong" sometimes - potatoes get stuck to the pan, too burnt on the outside, or mushy etc etc. This method is SO superior. I made them tonight - Thank you Chef.

Haven't tried this yet but I do something similar, I pressure cook my sliced potatoes then pan fry them to get them crispy on the outside. Next time I'll try them in the oven. Thanks for the fun food videos! yumm!

Hi Chef John. I just stumbled onto your blog via Pinterest a few days ago and I am loving your down-to-earth approach to cooking!

I made roasted potatoes last night and had a few leftover that I thought would go nicely with breakfast, but I have never had much luck reheating potatoes (other than mashed). They just end up grainy and, well, gross. Is there a trick to reheating them? Or are leftover roasted potatoes basically useless?

Love this recipe! Have done it with golden potatoes, but I was wondering if using red potatoes would get the same result? I have guess coming Sunday and I'm trying to have a backup plan in case I don't spot any golden potatoes. (Veggies have been going fast lately at my grocer.) Thanks for your vids.

These potatoes are superb. I've made them twice now. The first time I made them it took a bit longer to get my potatoes golden. The next time I made them I didn't want to use two ovens--I was pan-roasting some chicken at 475 F already whilst the potatoes dried on a rack--and I cooked the potatoes at the higher temperature. I should have left them in a bit longer but the chicken was done and we were hungry. I'm happy to report that both times they came out wonderfully. A nice bit of crust on the outside, creamy and nicely seasoned on the inside. What a wonderful technique. Thank you Chef John!